An extra 5,000 lives a year will be saved within the next five years as GPs are given greater direct access to diagnostic tests for patients suffering from a range of cancers, Andrew Lansley will announce today.

As part of a fightback on health after weeks of bad headlines, the health secretary will pledge to tackle late diagnosis, which has saddled Britain with some of the highest cancer rates in Europe.

Lansley will announce an increase in resources to give GPs in England greater access to diagnostic tests for patients suffering from brain, ovarian, bowel and other cancers. The tests will include:

• Chest x-rays to help with the diagnosis of lung cancer.

• Non-obstetric ultrasound to diagnose ovarian and other cancers.

• Flexible sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy to help diagnose bowel cancer.

• MRI brain scans to diagnose brain cancer.

In an update to parliament on the government's cancer strategy, Lansley will confirm his support for the policy of referring emergency cases to a specialist within two weeks. The move is aimed at tackling less clearcut cases more quickly.

"With emergency cases GPs can refer patients within two weeks," one government source said. "But sometimes there is ambiguity where GPs cannot be absolutely sure. In those cases you need more access to diagnostic tests."

GPs already have access to chest x-rays and some have access to non-obstetric ultrasound. But there is little access at the primary care level to the other diagnostic tests.

Lansley will also make clear that the government's wider approach to healthcare – concentrating more resources on prevention – applies strongly to cancer. Public Health England is promoting screening and raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer.

Lansley said last night: "Cancer affects us all. Everyone will have a story of someone they love battling the disease.

"We all need to know the NHS will be there for us. Our ambition is simple, to deliver survival rates among the best in Europe, and this strategy outlines how we will make our first steps towards this.

"The coalition government's reforms of health and care services will drive improvements in what matters most to patient and their families – cancer outcomes, lived saved. That is what we will be measuring our success against."

Lansley, who confirmed this week that, having suffered a stroke in the past, he was given the flu jab, has faced criticism for failing to repeat last year's advertising campaign to promote the vaccination.

Labour warned during the election that the Tories would abandon the two-week cancer referral policy. This was on the basis of Tory plans to scrap targets in other areas in favour of what the Tories called "measurable outcomes".